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I just resubscribed to CoH, and rather than roll another scraper that I'll probably drop in the 20s or a defender even sooner, thought I'd try a controller. Provided they fit my playstyle.
I am a casual solo player, have to go afk a lot and don't like to inconvenience other players. Looking for a an at/set that can solo from 1 to 50. Was wondering which sets work well for solo play. I'm currently looking at plant/storm, any one have experience with that combo as a solo player?
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I tend to solo, mostly - too. But I don't have anywhere near a lvl 50 yet.
I have used Plant/Thermal several times (I like the Thermal for the healing) - and I've used Ice/Thermal on one, and Grav/Thermal on another. Each has something amusing to watch - beit the vines growing on the bad guys, or the ice-cubing them, or simply throwing them up in the air.
My favourite controller solo type is a Fire/rad. Once you get the fire imps it becomes very fast. Others swear by Fire/kinetics, but you'll have to wait till level 38 for the big damage power at which point it will out damage rad. However, I like the added defensive powers of the rad set and in the early levels it out damages kinetics. So it comes down to play style really. A Fire/rad would go something like this - You see a group,, you hit them with a hold, you debuff them, you use your AoEs and imps to kill them quickly. Imps can be buffed by AM too.
I have a baby plant/storm of my own, but she's enough of a lowbie that I can't really give any specific advice. At least not advice you'd probably want to listen to!
But as for Controllers in general being good solo'ers, oh, my yes! My single most effective solo toon (as in "can solo a good many AVs" effective) is an Illusion/Kinetics Controller. She matured fairly quickly, and once she had Siphon Speed, Deceive, Phantom Army, Phantasm, and Fulcrum Shift, she became essentially unstoppable. I was genuinely wishing for a difficulty setting beyond Invincible, as she waltzes through missions with absurd ease. The advent of Mission Architect arcs has changed that, and I couldn't be happier.
You're gonna love your solo 'troller! 
"And in this moment, I will not run.
It is my place to stand.
We few shall carry hope
Within our bloodied hands."
There's some really good information in this thread so I won't even try to add to the hard data.
But I love my Plant / Storm enough to jump in and add my support for the build. It has fantastic synergy and is very fun to play.
You will not be disappointed.
Others I know like Plant /Kin to improve recharge for the Creepers but my personal choice would be to stick with /Storm which gives you a great deal of balance, some decent damage, and as noted exhaustively above provides fun combos and synergy.
There's several good choices for a solo 'troller... I've played several combos and some are early bloomers & some late bloomers.
Mind solos VERY well in the early game but it tends to plateau early... it still solos adequately late game but it's quite a bit slower than others. It's best vs small groups with it's primarily single target focus. My 50 Mind/Kin is a really good team controller, solo it's ok.
Fire is slow in the early game and gradually picks up steam until level 32 when all hell breaks loose; I have never played a better damage character than my level 50 Fire/Rad; it chews up regular missions faster and safer than my 50 Spine/Regen scrapper.
Plant is really good from fairly early against larger groups of easy targets... it has a lot of AOE damage to deal with groups. The biggest drawback is the relative lack of single target damage... bosses are a pain to deal with. It offers a ton of control and works well with a team of good damage dealers. Mine is a 43 Plant/Storm... the two sets do work very nicely together and Roots allows you to get better use out of Tornado; lock 'em down with Roots and the Tornado won't blow the mobs all over the place. Just remember to keep reapplying Roots before the 12 second -kb wears off.
Illusion is one of the classic soloers, starting at level 18 with PA. The set offers a lot of damage output at the expense of control. The Ill/Rad combo is highly popular and works very well, my 38 Ill/Rad is becoming a really powerful character.
COH has just been murdered by NCSoft. http://www.change.org/petitions/ncso...city-of-heroes
I've played my plant/rad controller mainly solo, and he's just hit 38. He's the only squishie that I feel comfortable running at diff 4 solo. Does that help?
I solo play more than 90% of the time and teaming is usually with my 50s, that being said, I have solo'd 1-50 on:
Fire/Therm (built for buff/debuff....I don't do the healer thing)
Illus/Kin
Illus/Storm
Working on a Illus/Rad now, at 23 and cruising along nice. Yes, I have a unnatural attraction to Illusion.
Edit: I think I upped diff to 3 or 4 when SOs added and 4/5 by 35ish with no problem at all.
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Illusion gets solotastic at level 18 (Phantom Army). But before that you're not really worth much unless you take Deceive (which drops your XP). Flash is unreliable (long, long recharge), and Spectral Wounds and Blind are only decent for damage. But after you get PA, you'll be a very happy soloist.
Sorry, I don't know much about plant.
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No, No, NO, Deceive does not reduce your XP over time. It can possibly reduce you XP per foe, but you get a good chunk of the XP for damage done by the deceived foe. The net result of using Deceive is that you kill stuff faster, getting more XP over time. It is also one of the most powerful single target controls in the game. Read some of the guides.
Plant/Storm is a great combo, with great synergy. Its strength is AoE control and damage over time. Its main weakness is dealing with single tough foes. Your only option to stack mag is to stack Strangler or Vines + Strangler. Storm's Tornado and Lightning Storm make up for it, but you don't get those until 35 and 38.
Ill/Storm is a great solo character. If you take Deceive at level 4, you have a power that can take the toughest foe out of every fight, because Deceive does not cause aggro, so you can easily stack it from range. You start out as a controller/Blaster with Blind-Spectral Wounds. Storm adds a lot of control otherwise missing from Illusion, and adds good damage in the later levels. Once you get Phantom Army at 18, you suddenly have three pocket tanks as one of the best powers in the game. Freezing Rain provides the debuffs to make PA better. Spectral Terror gives you AoE control, letting you take out the foes one at a time even when PA is recharging.
Take a look at Tal_N's Ill/Storm Guide for an idea of how good the combo is. I went with Steamy Mist + Super Speed for my travel since it also gave me full invisibility, allowing me to skip both Superior Invis and Group Invis. I skipped Flash and went with Thunderclap instead, but either is usable -- but don't take Flash until later levels, as it stinks until you can fully slot it with SOs or better for Acc, Hold Duration and Recharge. I took everything from Storm, and soloed this character most of the time. If fact, on teams I have to limit some of my better powers, but solo, I get to embrace the chaos.
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Guide Links: Earth/Rad Guide, Illusion/Rad Guide, Electric Control